Creatures
The galaxy is filled with strange and fascinating creatures on every planet. Some are docile, unwilling to attack without being provoked. Others are deadly predators that will lunge out at the nearest living thing to them. Still others are not native to different worlds, being imported by the Imperium, orks and other life-forms. These creatures all react differently to the Acolytes, whether they be just acknowledging their presence, attacking them or being hunted themselves. Phalanx Creatures The world of Phalanx is home to several savage creatures, including the infamous dakuwaqa in the seas or the machair in the mountains. These animals are dangerous prey to hunt, but mostly stay out of the way of humanity and the orks as they fight their war...mostly. Dakuwaqa: the dakuwaqa is a species of massive shark, stretching a minimum of sixty feet long. It's trademark fins are easily twelve feet high, and its maw is large enough to swallow a grown man or ork whole. These animals have powerful senses, smell and sight being cheif among them. However, along its flanks are a series of biological detectors, made to tell the creature when an electric field (AKA any living or powered thing) is nearby, although that is an understatement. The detectors are sensitive to several dozen kilometres, and its nose can smell a drop of blood at almost half that range. It's skin is tough, and the large tail fin propels the shark through the water with speed. Truth be told, the dakuwaqa is among one of the main reasons why the orks don't dare hunt humanity out on the islands by way of water. While the Phalaxians have learned to arm their PT boats with electromagnetic emitters to mask the presence of their craft (and the sharks rarely, if ever, breach the surface of the water), the orks have learned no such thing, and their gunboats and submersibles come under attack from the fearless titanic sharks everytime they set out. The dakuwaqa holds a special symbolism for the Phalaxians, and although killing one is a great feat, it is usually not looked upon very favourably unless there is no choice. ' Machair:' a species of saber-toothed felids, machair live in in the mountains of Phalanx, away from the hives lower down on the plains and in the forests. These big cats are enormous, large as horses and easily able to take down a grox in pairs or small groups, and can run up to twenty kilometres per hour. It is a muscular cat, used to hunting the massive titanotheres and thalass. However, it will not hesitate to go after the speedier struthions. It's enormous fangs are capable of penetrating flak armor, and its bite is powerful, with enough force to not only crush and tear out a man's windpipe, but also to effortlessly rip the head off. These animals will not hesitate to attack humans, especially if those humans are in small numbers. They also love to eat orks and squig, and are more than a match for the greenskins and their attack beasts. Titanothere: an enormous rhinocid, titanotheres are semi-aggressive mammals. With their poor eyesight, they've learned to charge first and sniff later. Thanks to their thick skulls and hides, they usually take little damage from running headlong into trees, buildings, vehicles or anything else solid. In fact, most things give way to -them-, and they can easily toss a man twenty feet into the air with a single swing of their horned heads. Titanotheres stand at three and a half metres tall, and weigh just as many tons in raw muscle and insulating fat. These animals are normally vicious rivals of the machair, and have learned to travel in small groups as opposed to herds. * * * * * * * ' Thalass:' the nearest thing to primate life on Phalanx in nature, thalassa are the largest land mammals on Phalanx, standing six metres (twenty feet) at full height. These creatures move slowly, and are normally browsers. However, their strength is phenomenal, and many a hunt has been turned on a big game hunter when, with incredibly quick speed the thalass moves over to whoever fired the shot, grabs the offender in its paw and tosses him or her an incredibly long distance. Their skins are almost impervious to most small arms, and only the largest caliber weapons will penetrate them. A thalass can normally only be brought down by machair if they work together in packs, and orks have found them to be a great challenge, for they can easily turns the hunters into hunted. Struthion: populating the lowlands and light forests of Phalanx, struthions are large birds, coming in at six feet at the shoulder. They have no wings, but make up for it by being exceptionally fast runners with their long, powerful legs. These legs also double as a defense mechanism, and the claws on the ends of these feet are horrific in the damage they can inflict. While attempts have been made to domesticate them, their use as beasts of burden has been found to be useless due to their skittish nature, and their meat is tough and rangy compared to grox. Thus, these animals continue to stay wild. * * * * Unagi: another interesting sea predator on Phalanx, the unagi is a little on the smaller side, but still no less lethal for it, like most creatures on Phalanx. It is twelve meters long, has razor sharp fangs and is completely poisonous. To consume its flesh will humans outright, and has even been known to lay out a daquwaka, beached up on the shore. Unagi usually travel in small packs, scavenging more than they hunt, and are a nuisance near shoreline facilities where every now and then a worker or soldier will disappear. * * * * Owlbear: one of the stranger creatures on Phalanx, this animal can best be described as its name implies. It looks like a combination between an owl and a bear, though it is large and bulkier than any machair. It's powerful claws and beak are capaple of splitting and rending flesh in a heartbeat, and have even been known to slice through solid steel plating. Owlbears are the apex land predators on Phalanx, competing with machair for territory and food on a world where both are rapidly shrinking. As such, owlbear have been known to take down orks and drag them back to their dens for food, though humans may also suffer the same fate. * * * * Apocrypha Creatures The wildlife of Apocrypha, desert creatures all, have some defense mechanism to defend themselves, whether it be powerful jaws, large size, the ability to burrow, or even poison. Most of them are reptiles or cold-blooded mammals, perfect for the searing heat of the shrine world. However, they can become a problem when they begin gathering around populated areas. Hellrexes: this type of saurian carnosaur has been seen on several planets, and evidence has been found of their existence some 65 million years ago on Terra. However, their role as top predator on Apocrypha has set them apart from those extinct species. They are twenty-five feet tall at the shoulder, have tough skin, and their jaws are just as strong as a squiggoth's. These animals are particularly hard to put down, which is usually why the Apocryphans don't dare to dispatch infantry, preferring to use their orbital weapons to dissuade them from populated areas. They normally hunt in packs, and can either hunt or scavenge. So far, few have gone against them with the intent to best these titans and survived. Many fewer have won, and only just.